


gently rise and softly call

by energyboyeric



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fairy Tale Elements, Fluff, M/M, Ocean, One Shot, Selkies, aggressively procrastinates on my other works haha whoopsies, i finally felt like uploading it, i listened to celtic woman while writing this they always get me thinkin about the i ocean lol, sort of anyways, this is old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 21:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30028074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/energyboyeric/pseuds/energyboyeric
Summary: Younghyun has always been in awe of the sea.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	gently rise and softly call

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from “the parting glass” i like the celtic woman rendition the best and it feels like it fits this fic the best too. 
> 
> also note: idk if my selkie lore entirely lines up. but oh well

Younghyun has always been in awe of the sea.

He’s spent many a day seated on the flat rocks perched at the edge of the cliff, legs tucked tightly into his chest, simply gazing out at the endless horizon; he likes the way it’s inexhaustible, boundless, like that, having no true end in sight. Most of the men in his village fear that endlessness, the vast expanse of water stretching across and down and all around for as far as the eye can see, and tell tales of giant, ferocious leviathans that have knives for teeth and eat sailors for supper, and of massive whales the size of mountains that capsize their boats.

For some reason, those stories don’t scare him- perhaps he knows they’re only myths, their only purpose to scare children- though the idea of unimaginable, fascinating creatures residing just below the surface interests him more than intimidates him. 

Every night, especially in the summertime, the sun makes a brilliant show of setting, painting the sky in vibrant hues of orange and purple that are reflected on the rippling surface of the water, making it a work of art itself. Gulls crowd the sky, circling in wide arcs and calling loudly to each other, or gathering up their young before night falls.

It’s on one such night that he is doing just this, his bare feet warmed on the sun-heated surface of the rocks, the breeze tasting of salt and playing gently with his hair, that he sees something strange onshore, far below. 

Dolphins and little white whales sometimes wash up on the beach, having gotten confused on their travels to one place or another in the great wide ocean- Younghyun doesn’t blame them, he’s quite sure he’d get lost too, if he were a whale- and so he helps them back in when he can, bidding them good luck on finding wherever it is they might be going.

So it’s without much thought that he springs up, feeling the cold soil between his toes replace warm granite, and quickly makes his way down the little sandy path that runs past the house he shares with his mother and brother and winds down the cliffside, leading him to the beach.

The wind is slightly stronger onshore, some of its previous gentleness replaced with something more ferocious. Around him, the shorebirds hop across the sand, their feet leaving spindly little markings behind as they search for fish left behind by the rapidly receding tide. 

He makes his way to where he’d seen the oddity earlier, laid in a patch of seaweed and so far away he couldn’t make out anything besides its paleness. When he finally reaches it, Younghyun lets out a tiny gasp.

The thing is neither a whale or a dolphin, nor even a stray seal pup or a particularly large piece of driftwood. It’s _human,_ a boy, half wrapped in a blanket of murky green kelp, his pale skin marked with deep red scratches. His hair is ghostly pale, nearly too light to be called blonde, and fanned out behind his head. He seems to be sleeping, his side rising and falling rhythmically, with his hands curled in at his chest. 

Carefully, Younghyun reaches down, touching the boy’s shoulder to wake him, and finds that his skin is freezing to the touch, cold and clammy. Gently, he shakes him, relieved when the boy seems to respond immediately, his eyes fluttering open, dark lashes beating like butterflies against his skin.

“Hello,” Younghyun says softly, unsure of how to properly address him, though he knows at least that he wants to keep him calm; often, when a creature he’s helping is agitated, he simply speaks to it, hoping the smooth, quiet sound of his voice will soothe it. “I’m Younghyun, and I’m not going to hurt you, okay?” The boy makes a quiet sound, shifting on the ground, and looking up at him with round, dark eyes that reflect the colors of the sunset. “Can you speak?” he asks. After a moment’s hesitation, as if trying to understand what he’s said, the boy shakes his head. “Oh,” Younghyun says, stuttering before giving him a reassuring smile, “that’s okay! Can you stand?” He extends a hand.

After a moment, slender, pale fingers that quiver at his touch are placed tentatively in his hand, contrasting with his own skin, deeply tanned from many days spent working outside. With a little tug, he pulls the boy to his feet; he stumbles, his knees buckling at first, and Younghyun catches him. Though he still does not speak, his dark eyes seem to convey a _thank you_ to him clearly enough. 

Though it takes much longer than it did for Younghyun to come down alone, together they make their way back up the slope; lightly supporting him as they go, Younghyun allows himself to wonder about the boy- where did he come from? Why doesn’t he speak? Does he have a name? His skin is still like ice against his fingers. Out of the corner of his eye, he observes him, how his intelligent gaze takes in their surroundings, his white hair blowing like fine gossamer in the wind.

By the time they travel the path all the way back up the cliffside, approaching the doorstep to his home, the shorebirds have retreated to their nests to rest, just as the sun has retreated below the horizon to let the moon rule the night. 

His mother and brother are out visiting an uncle of theirs in the next town over, and will be gone for the rest of the week, so he opens the door and leads the boy inside without hesitation. He notices the way he stares at everything inside with wonder, nearly touching the flame of a burning candle before Younghyun snatches his hand away. 

“This is my home,” he tells him, “are you tired?” The boy stares at him again for a moment before nodding. “Here,” he leads him by the wrist into his bedroom, “you can sleep in here. I’ll get you some clothes, and- are you hungry?” After pressing his hand into the mattress curiously, running his fingertips over the covers, the boy sits down, nodding thoughtfully once again. 

Younghyun rummages around in his drawers, finding a shirt and pants that he thinks would fit the boy, and sets them down on the bed next to him. 

“Here, put these on. If you’re tired, sleep- I’ll bring you something to eat, okay? Get under the blankets, you’re freezing.” Slipping the shirt over his head, the boy nods, his eyes sparkling but his demeanor exhausted, his body wracked with shivers; Younghyun can’t help but smile at his mussed hair, glinting thousands of shades of red and orange in the flickering candlelight. Backing slowly out of the room, Younghyun leaves him be, moving to the kitchen to look for something to feed him.

As he searches the cupboards, his mind wanders, trying and failing to understand where in the world the boy had come from. His village is the only one on the coast for miles in either direction, and there are no islands offshore that he may have been swept out to sea and washed up from. Younghyun rarely sees other boats on the water when he sets out to fish besides the other men in town, and none of them have any sons they might have taken out on a trip with them. His theories become more and more outrageous, purely _mythological,_ as he continues to think- could he be one of the fabled Finfolk that were said to reside in the waters offshore, people with scaly bodies and jagged teeth, that tempted unsuspecting sailors into the water with dark magic? But, no- Younghyun sighs- he knows, by his bright and soft gaze, that the boy is not evil, or dark. 

He puts some bread and a bowl of soup heated on the stove on a plate, and, tiptoeing (though he doesn’t know why), he slips back down the hallway, only to find the boy fast asleep under the blankets of his bed. _No,_ he thinks, eyes tracing over his soft, innocent features, _he couldn’t be evil._ He places the food on the bedside table, blows out the candle, and slips out of the room. 

***

The boy sleeps for three days, his skin never changing from its cold state, the shivers never leaving his body; Younghyun begins to worry after the first day, wondering if he had caught a bad cold after being on the beach for so long. Still, he goes about his day as normally as he can, leaving for the shipyard early in the morning and coming back in the afternoon to check on him. 

On the evening of the third day, the boy wakes up in a fit of coughing, prompting Younghyun to rush into his room to find him sitting upright, his eyes squeezed shut.

“Are you okay?” He asks, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder to steady him; dark eyes, watering and glassy, blink up at him.

“Y-yes,” he chokes out, surprising Younghyun. “I’m, I-” he struggles to form the words in between coughs that wrack his entire body.

“Take your time,” Younghyun reassures him, tracing small, comforting circles into his shoulder with his thumb. The boy nods, strands of his hair falling into his eyes.

“My, my c-coat,” he stutters out, looking up at Younghyun with desperate eyes, “I l-lost my, my _coat_.” Younghyun blinks at him, confused. His coat?

“You wha-” The boy’s hand suddenly grips his shoulder tightly, his fingertips digging into Younghyun’s skin, trembling wildly.

“The b-beach, on. . .on, the beach, I,” he takes in a choked breath, “I n- _need_ it.” The urgency, the _desperation_ in his voice, is enough to make Younghyun dash out of the room without another word.

This time, he does not stop to admire the ocean’s infinite embrace, or to wonder what lies beneath the waves. He does not count the gulls wheeling lazily in the sky, or the glimmering fins of porpoises as they leap out of the water. He _runs,_ feet skidding on the sand, seas of startled terns squawking indignantly as he dashes through their flocks, scanning the shore for some sign of- of a _coat._ It makes no sense, and yet he knows that he _needs_ to find it, lest something terrible happen to the boy. 

After some time, when his muscles ache and his lungs burn, he spots something odd, silvery in the sunlight, draped across a cluster of rocks, and when he finally reaches it, he breathes a massive sigh of relief. 

Without a thought, he grabs the thing, bundles it's impossibly soft fur lining in his hands and, with renewed energy, runs back home.

As soon as the boy touches the coat, he seems to calm down; his body stops shaking, and his ragged breathing evens out; Younghyun watches in fascination as he buries his hands in the soft gray fur, mottled with deeper gray spots and with a curious, silky sheen to it. Closing his eyes, the boy takes a deep breath, holding the bundle close to his chest. 

“Thank you.” He looks up at Younghyun with his dark, starry eyes and he sees sincerity in them. “You deserve an. . . explanation?” His voice pitches up, as if he’s unsure if he’s using the right word. The boy smiles bashfully, glancing away from Younghyun, “I am not too. . .good? With words. . .up above.” Younghyun cocks his head to the side. _What does that mean?_

“Can I ask you for your name?” he asks. The boy thinks for a moment, playing with the fur of his coat.

“You can. . .call me Jae,” he says, smiling, after some thought. 

“Oh, that’s a nice name,” he says, making Jae smile wider, “I’m not sure if I ever told you while you were awake, but I’m Younghyun.” Jae nods.

“Young. . .hyun,” he says, as if trying it out for himself, “I think. . .that’s a nice name too,” he adds shyly.

“Oh, uh, thanks!” Younghyun blushes, but pushes onward, his curiosity getting the best of him. “Why do you need _that?_ ” He asks, pointing to the fur coat still bundled in Jae’s hands. Jae opens and closes his mouth once, then twice, his head tilting to the side as he thinks.

“It is. . .” he starts, “not simple to explain.” His expression suddenly lights up, and he grabs Younghyun’s wrist, his touch feather-light. “Here, I can. . .show, you. Easier that way.” With uncertain movements at first, he stands from where he’d been propped up in bed, holding onto Younghyun for support with one hand while clutching his coat to his chest with the other. He leads him out the door, and down the winding path to the seaside once more.

Younghyun notices how Jae’s demeanor changes as they draw closer to the water, drawing himself up to his full height, a grin playing on his lips, his radiant hair blown back just right by the wind, until instead of hobbling he’s _running,_ laughing, pulling Younghyun along with him. A feeling of pure, giddy joy overcomes him- perhaps Jae’s is contagious- as they run, feet digging into the sand, the evening sun casting a warm glow across the shore. They stop when they get to the water, the cold waves lapping gently at their toes; Jae sighs, seemingly content.

“Follow me,” he says, and adds on seriously, “Do not be afraid. I. . . have you.” He smiles reassuringly, and, squeezing Younghyun’s wrist, steps into the waves, urging him to keep going. Not quite understanding why he trusts him but knowing fully that he _does,_ Younghyun wades deeper into the ocean, shivering as the cold water embraces him. Just as he’s about to fully submerge, Jae turns to him, finally slipping on his coat.

“It will be okay,” Jae reassures him, “Go. . .under.”

“Wha-”

“Do you. . . trust me?” He asks, squeezing Younghyun’s hand again underwater and looking him in the eye.

“Yeah.”

“Then come.” And Jae disappears beneath the waves, leaving Younghyun alone with the silence of the surface. He takes a deep breath, staring down into the depths for a long moment, paddling lightly to stay afloat. 

And he dives down.

What he sees is crystal clear water, reaching outwards and downwards for as far as he can fathom; little schools of fish shimmer like stars in the abyss, darting about and looking to Younghyun like twinkling lights as they move. Something brushes past him, startling him; a seal swims into his view, its shimmering, silvery coat rippling as it turns to him and gently headbuts him. Younghyun comes to a sudden realization- this is _Jae._

He can’t hold his breath any longer, so he resurfaces, gasping for air. A moment later, Jae’s head breaks through the surface as well, shaking his head to clear wet locks of hair out of his eyes, smiling widely. His shining seal’s coat is draped across his shoulders, and Younghyun finally understands its importance.

“That is. . .what I am,” he says, “It’s hard to, to live as a. . . human. Seal is easier.” Younghyun thinks hard, trying to remember what myths the village fishermen had told him about the people who shed their seal skins to become humans.

“A selkie?” He asks, uncertain. Jae nods furiously. 

“That’s me!” He exclaims, “I was. . . pulled away from my pod by a- a storm, and you,” he places a hand on Younghyun’s chest, “saved me.” Younghyun frowns, resting his hand over Jae’s.

“You have a family?” He asks, almost unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. “You should get back to them then, right?” Jae nods, understanding Younghyun’s sadness. 

“I will. Do, do not worry, I will. . . visit? Visit often,” he laughs, “and practice speaking. . .for you. _To_ you.” Younghyun laughs too, endeared by his efforts. 

The water doesn’t seem so cold anymore, and the waves gently rock them in a soothing, relaxing manner. Just like most summer nights, the sky is painted over in all of its glorious vibrant hues, lighting Jae from the side and making his skin, glistening with seawater, glow warmly. 

“Do be careful out there, then,” Younghyun says, “I- I wouldn’t mind seeing you again.” 

“And I would like to. . . see you again,” Jae responds, lifting a hand to tuck the soaked strands of hair hanging in Younghyun’s face behind his ear gently, “what is the. . . thing. . .that you humans do when you. . . say goodbye?” He asks cautiously. 

“What?” Younghyun pauses, trying to imagine what he might be thinking of.

“ _This_ ,” Jae says, and grabs the collar of Younghyun’s shirt to gently pull him towards him, through the water, and presses his soft lips against Younghyun’s. Jae tastes like sea salt, and pulls Younghyun close to his chest so that Younghyun can almost feel the warmth radiating from him despite the coolness of the ocean surrounding them. 

“Right. That.” Younghyun says breathlessly when they break apart.

“Yes, that,” Jae confirms, and they both laugh, feeling euphoric, weightless, floating in the ocean. “Okay,” he continues, “I will. . . go, now,” he says, pulling Younghyun close one last time to press a kiss to his forehead. “Be careful. . .going to shore.” Younghyun nods. 

“See you soon?” He asks hopefully. Jae smiles in confirmation.

“Yes. Very soon,” he says, and just before he disappears back beneath the waves for a final time, he adds, “goodbye, Younghyun.” 

And then he’s gone, just as quickly as he came.

Younghyun swims back to shore, lying down on the sand and gazing out to sea. For once he does not imagine great blue whales, or impossible leviathans, or malicious finfolk, but instead one, silver seal, swimming nimbly through the great, endless deep, and perhaps one day, if he’s very lucky, all the way back to him.


End file.
